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Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . Dive Brief: Alimentation Couche-Tard has partnered with electric vehicle charging company Ionna to bring new charging infrastructure to 350 Circle K stores in the U.S., according to a Tuesday announcement. The partnership will include converting and upgrading around 85 existing EV charging stations and adding Ionna’s infrastructure to more than 250 additional sites.

Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . When Dodge resurrected its Dart sedan in 2012, it exhorted shoppers to visit an online configurator that let them build their own virtual vehicle, picking from a slew of features and options. Those included six trim levels, 12 exterior colors and 14 interior colors, plus seven wheel, three engine and three transmission choices.

Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . Editor’s note: This is a reported column, in which Joseph Szczesny periodically explores labor topics affecting the automotive industry for WardsAuto. With the ratification of a four-year contract, 3,200 workers at Volkswagen of America’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee are card-carrying UAW members.

Auto lenders have poured millions into digital innovation at the front end of the customer journey. But the real opportunity, as the latest J.D. Power Automotive Financing Satisfaction Study makes clear, sits much further down the line. Nearly a third of today's auto borrowers are considered financially vulnerable, and their satisfaction scores run 150 points below those of financially healthy customers. That gap isn't just about affordability.

System under test – from software to virtual ECU The system under test (SUT) is the focus of every test because it is precisely the software that will later have to prove itself on an ECU in real-world use. The Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) tests run completely without ECU hardware, which leads to many advantages, e.g., lower costs, easy scalability in the cloud, etc. But can realistic operating conditions even be represented without hardware?

Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . Editor’s note: John McElroy is the president of BlueSky Productions, which produces Autoline Daily, and a longtime opinion columnist for WardsAuto. Views expressed here are his own. Robots in car factories are nothing new. General Motors started using them in the 1960s and they’ve been around for over half a century. Every auto plant today has hundreds of them.

Listen to the article 12 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . If the robot revolution is to happen — and many appear convinced it will — the automotive industry is likely to be front and center in the movement.

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a comprehensive round of updates for its midsize GLE and larger GLS SUVs, which are both produced at the company's Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama. The refreshed SUVs arrive with significant changes to their interiors, electronic architectures and drivetrains as the German automaker seeks to defend its position against the BMW X5 and X7, as well as the Audi Q7 and upcoming Q9. It’s the third facelift for current model cycle of the GLE and the more luxurious seven-seat GLS.

Listen to the article 0 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . INGOLSTADT, Germany – Audi has finally put a name and intent behind what’s been an open secret for some time: A new range-topping SUV, badged Q9, is on the way — and it’s being developed with the U.S. market very much in mind. Confirmed by CEO Gernot Döllner at the company’s annual media conference, the Q9 will sit above the Q7 as the brand’s largest and most luxurious SUV model.

The automotive industry was already fighting on multiple fronts before tariffs entered the equation. Software-defined vehicles were rewriting the engineering playbook. Chinese competitors were bringing new models to market in 12 months — a fraction of the 36 to 60 months required by traditional Western automakers. Battery electric vehicle demand was softening against overly optimistic forecasts, and an aging workforce was creating a widening skills gap. Then the tariff shock arrived.